Winter's Legacy
by Escape Through Dreams
Summary: A month since the event's of "Let's Try Together" and the Avengers are on search for Payton and her unborn child. Will they reach her in time before Hydra does too much damage? Will Bucky help save the woman who once saved him? *Updates ever other Friday!*
1. Prologue

Alright! This is it, this is the continuing story for Bucky and Payton! Updates are going to be slow because unlike Notice Me and Let's Try, I do not have this story completed. I'm posting the Prologue now as a sort of teaser. I want to get more chapters stored up before I post them!

I REALLY hope you enjoy reading, let me know what you think! So, here we go! Let's find out what happens to our couple!

* * *

"Anything?" Wanda asks anxiously.

Natasha shakes her head, "Nothing."

The two women let out a long sigh and collapse back on Natasha's sofa.

"What are we going to do?" Wanda asks, looking at the red head.

Natasha scrubs her hands over her face, "I don't know. I'm at a complete loss here Wan. I'm not used to not knowing my next move, but I just…"

Wanda rubs Natasha's back, "We need to tell the others what is going on. We need Bucky."

Natasha adamantly shakes her head, "No! I'm not telling the asshat anything. It's his fault we are in this situation. If he hadn't freaked out and had just listened to Payton, then she would be safe with us!"

"It's been a month Nat!" Wanda exclaims, throwing her arms up, "A whole month since we found that letter. A month of Payton being held captive by Hydra and we haven't gotten any closer to finding her. We only know she is still alive because they want the baby. If we want to get her and the baby away from them, we need to tell the others. We need to tell Bucky. He might be the only one who could possible find her and save them both."

The red head lets out a groan and drops her head to her hands, "I really don't want to have to deal with him. I think he has finally gotten enough alcohol in his system to get drunk."

"I thought the serum was supposed to prevent that. High metabolism and all?"

"Yeah well, he has been through most of Tony's stash, plus some of the Asgardian ale Thor left. I don't know if he would be of any help to us."

Wanda and Natasha go quiet, thinking over all of their options, but both coming up short. They are out of options, and their only choice is to tell the Avengers… and Bucky.

Natasha sighs, standing up, "Okay, you go get the others. Call an emergency Avengers Assemble and I'll go get the asshat."

"Good luck." Wanda says with a grimace.

"Thanks, I'll need it."

*Somewhere in the middle of nowhere*

"Wakey Wakey Ms. Gardner. It's time for the fun to begin again." A deep male voice reaches her ears, pulling her from the darkness.

Payton groans, turning her head away and trying to fight back the tears.

"No please, no more. Please."

"Oh I just love it when you beg me. But you know what I love even more? When you scream for me."

Payton manages a weak glare at the man, "Fuck… you."

He gives her the sickest, most twisted smile imaginable, "Now."

"AHHHH!"

Her scream echoes, back arching off the table and all Payton can do is pray, pray that she will be found in time for her baby to be saved.


	2. Chapter 1

Warning: Brief mention of torture

* * *

 _"No! Please, please stop! Stop it… Don't do this… Please! No, oh GOD! Not again! Please… please not again! No, no, no…NO!"_

Bucky jerks awake, sitting straight up in bed, panting with his heart pounding and sweat dripping down his face. He grips his spinning head, the sounds of the woman's scream echoing in his ears and not helping the pounding he's feeling. Fuck, so this was what it felt like to have a hangover again, fucking sucks.

He stumbles out of bed with a groan, disoriented from the lack of sleep. Bucky has lost count of how many nights he has been forced awake be a woman screaming; crying for help and begging for someone to stop. What they are doing to her, he doesn't know, but he wants to help her. He wants to find her and take her away from whatever is hurting her.

The only problem is, Bucky has no idea who she is. He doesn't even know if she is a real person or not. For all Bucky knows, she could be one of his victims from his time as the Soldier and he is just now remembering them.

Before he can make it to the bathroom, his bedroom door is flung open and his stumbles backward, falling back to the bed. Natasha stands in the door way, hands on her hips smirking at him.

"Oh good, you're up. I thought I was going to have to force you out of the bed. Now, go take a shower and change, then get to the lab, we are having an emergency assemble."

Bucky groans, standing back up, "I'm not an Avenger, I don't come to the meeting remember?"

He tries to get to the bath room, but Natasha grabs his arm, digging her nails into the flesh of his arm, "Damn it Bucky! Payton is in major trouble and she needs your help!"

Bucky feels his heart stop at the mention on Payton's name. She's the whole reason he has been trying to drink himself into a stupor. He is instantly overcome with a sense of fear for her, even if he is supposed to be mad at her, he still loves her. That hasn't changed, no matter how much he tries to drink away his feelings. But he isn't so sure he is ready to see her just yet and deal with all the mix emotions and thoughts he has been dealing with in the moments of clarity.

"I'm sorry; I don't think I'm the right guy for the job. Go ask Steve."

He shakes her off and tries to walk away again.

Natasha lets out a long sigh, closing her eyes before shouting, "HYDRA has Payton!"

Bucky stops dead in his tracks, slowly turning to stare at her with a deadly glare at the mention of the organization that held him captive for decades,

"What?"

"Enough. I think we have done enough for today, I think Ms. Gardner has earned a little of bit of a break for now."

Payton lies panting on the table, shaking trying to recover from their "play time." It hurts to even open her eyes.

HYDRA likes to play, putting her through as much as possible without actually hurting the baby. She is not exactly sure what they might be trying to get out of this, except for getting there jollies off hearing her scream. But she thinks that they might be trying to test what the effects will be on the baby. She has been poked and prodded, electrocuted so many times she has lost track; they only push her to her limit, never past it. That is probably because of the baby. They make sure to take extra care with the baby, keeping track of growth and health, everything a normal doctor would do during the early stages of a pregnancy. They really seem to enjoy seeing how the fetus reacts to Mommy's torture.

The monitor the baby, who at a month a long seems to be growing faster than a normal child and make sure that she is getting everything that she needs to ensure a healthy pregnancy. You know, besides the whole torture thing. She might not know what they want exactly, but she knows whatever it is involves her child.

The guards unstrap Payton from the table an carefully drag her back to her "cell" which is actually a pretty decent room, with a bed, television, movies, music, a jointed bathroom, just no way of communicating with the outside world. Oh, and a camera in every corner of the room, including the bathroom. They were not taking any chances of her possibly escaping. But her captor, a man who calls himself "Stone" wanted to make sure she was at least comfortable because as he said "I know how uncomfortable pregnancy can be on a woman."

Payton has to roll her eyes at that, there is o way that sick bastard knows anything about being pregnant.

Say curls up in a ball on her bed, trying to find the strength to go take a hot bath, but all she can do it close her eyes and let the tears roll.

"I'm so sorry baby. I wish I could protect you better. I wish I could get us out of here and back home, but I don't know how. But I promise you, someone will come for us, someone will save us from the monsters. He thinks he's a monster himself, but he's not. He is kind, caring, funny, sweet, loving. He's you Daddy and he will be here for you. I just know it…"

Payton mumbles, trying to keep the cameras from picking up her words.

The tears slow and Payton falls into a restless sleep. Her mind replaying every moment of HYDRA's torture, the pain and agony feels so real even in her sleep. She cried out for relief, for someone to put an end to this pain,

 _"No! Please, please stop! Stop it… Don't do this… Please! No, oh GOD! Not again! Please… please not again! No, no, no…NO!"_


	3. Chapter 2

"Alright Wanda, what's all of this about?" Tony asks, flopping down in one of the chairs.

Holding up her hands, she motions for them to just wait, she's not sure she could actually be the one to tell them. Not on her own anyway, she needs Natasha here with her for this.

"Just wait. Natasha is coming too; she just had to make a stop somewhere first." Wanda says.

Just then, Natasha comes in, trying to look calm and collected, but Wanda can see right through the façade. Mostly because she is feeling the exact same way as Natasha.

"Is he…?"

Natasha nods, "Yeah. I made him shower first." Natasha responds, taking her place beside Wanda.

Sam looks between the two, trying to get a read on them, "Okay, what's going on? You two have been acting really weird lately."

"Uh… well, that's a bit complicated and we'd rather wait for everyone before explain. Better to just explain once." Natasha says.

They look around, "Who else is coming? Everyone is here except for Payton and… No." Pietro scowls.

Wanda rolls her eyes at her brother, "Yes Pietro. Bucky's coming down, he's very much needed for this mission.

Steve's head pops up, "Mission? I wasn't aware of any new missions."

Wanda looks down guilty, shuffling her feet while Natasha faces away from the group suddenly finding the wall extremely interesting.

"Wanda, Nat… what's going on?" Steve questions them, using his "captain" voice.

"Well..." Wanda starts but is interrupted by Bucky walking into the room, and all eyes go right to him.

He pauses mid step and glances around, "What?"

"You're late." Natasha says rolling her eyes.

He scoffs, "I'm here what else do you want?"

Green eyes narrow on to the former soldier, Natasha clenches her fists at her sides, "I want you to actually give a damn that Hydra has kidnapped Payton and have been holding her captive for the last month!"

The room goes eerily silent; you could hear a pin drop. All eyes shift from Bucky to Natasha and Wanda. At the mention of Hydra, everyone goes ridged and on edge.

"What? What do you mean Hydra has Payton?" Pietro hisses, ready to go in attack mode.

Wanda sighs, "Everyone sit down and we'll explain. Just try and stay somewhat calm. Don't lash out or say anything until you've heard everything. Alright?"

Wanda tries to play peace maker, to be the level head in the middle of egos, tension, and unresolved issues. Though being the calm one isn't very easy for the Sokovian native, because the more she thinks about Payton being in Hydra's grasp, in her condition, it send Wanda into near hysterics. But she needs to stay calm, just for Payton's sakes.

The team sits around the conference table, all except for Bucky how opts to stand against the wall. His stance shows that he is not a part of the team and feels a complete disconnect with the situation at hand.

Natasha takes a deep breath, "Alright, so about a week after Payton moved back to her place, I went to see her. Since leaving she hadn't called, texted, anything, so of course I was worried, and I had every right to be worried. When I got to her house, everything was torn up, furniture flipped over; my first thought was a break in. But then the more I looked at it, the more I realized that it was too organized. Whoever had trashed the place did it to stage a break in or whatever they wanted us to think. So I called Wanda to have her come over and help me look for clues."

Wanda picks up where Natasha stops, "As we got to looking and cleaning things up, I found something. FRIDAY, please."

A hologram video pops up and the sight of an older man shows up on the video.

"Hello Avengers and Soldat. I'm sure you are wondering who I am. Well, you can call me Stone, and I have something you want. Wake up and say hello love."

The camera pans over to show Payton in a chair, gagged and hands tied behind her back and legs tied to the legs of the chair. The man, Stone, grabs her by the hair and yanks her head back.

She lets out a low groan around the gag. Stone tugs harder at her hair making Payton whine out in pain. Everyone tenses watching how he man handles the petite blonde.

Bucky tries to act as though the sight in front of him doesn't bother him, but the truth is he is ready to storm out of the room and hunt down the bastard who dares to hurt Payton.

Stone roughly shoves Payton's head, moving away from her as the camera follows him.

"Seems Ms. Gardner isn't feeling very talkative right now; maybe next time. Now on to the reason for this little video. You didn't think this was just for me to brag about getting a hold of the lovely Ms. Gardner did you? No, No. It's very simple, I want James Buchanan Barnes. Him for her. Easy as that. Well, maybe not that easy. I can't just give away our location so easily. I have grown fond of sweet little Payton, and I'm sure we could have some fun together. So, I'm going to leave it up to you Soldat. You come find us and we'll let Ms. Gardner go. Oh and if you need a little more incentive, you might want to check those results from her doctor. They were quite interesting to read."

The man chuckles as an evil smile takes over his face,

"Tick Tock, the time is ticking. You might want to hurry, the longer you take the more time I have to play. Bye now."

The screen goes black and the room is quiet. No one moves, staring at the blank screen and trying to process what they just witnessed.

The first one to react surprises everyone.

"This is your fault!" Steve growls while charging at Bucky.

"Wake up Ms. Gardner. It's time to play."

Payton groans, rolling over on the bed, "Go fuck yourself."

Stone growls and instantly Payton knows she has fucked up. Stone grabs her by the hair and drags her out of bed.

"NO! Stop it! Leave me alone, please! Just leave me alone!" she screams, struggling against his hold.

Stone throws her into the exam room, "Strap her down. We have the information we needed. It's time for phase two."

Payton's eyes go wide, trying but failing to fight the guards from tying her down. They get her pinned down and strapped to the table so tight she cannot even budge an inch. They even take things so far as to place a gag in her mouth.

"This will give you something to bite on." One of the "doctors" explains to her.

She follows the "doctors" every movement, whimpering as they attach different wires to her. Wires to track her heart rate, brain activities, stress levels, and then some she's not sure what they are for.

"Sir, she's ready." One man says as Stone walks back into the room.

"Very good, thank you. Now Ms. Gardner, I'm sure what all of this is about. Well, I'm going to tell you because, well, why not? It's not like you can do anything to stop me, to stop _us_." He smirks.

Payton narrows her eyes at him, trying to say something around the gag. Stone just smiles,

"Great, you agree. Now see, this last month that you have been here we have been testing to just the limits your body will be able to handle growing a super soldier. And we have come to realize that your body just isn't strong enough to handle the stress of having a super soldier growing in your womb."

He moves over to a table and picks up a syringe. Payton's eyes go wide as she begins to try and struggle against her binds, a muffled scream can be heard around her gag.

"We are going to ensure that you are strong enough to carry to full term. And perhaps more super soldier children to follow."

Stone's face twists into a sadistic sort of grin, holding Payton's arm, "No this might sting a little bit."


	4. Chapter 3

"This is your fucking fault!"

Steve rushes at Bucky, pulling his arm back to take a swing at Bucky, punching him square in the jaw. The force sends Bucky flying to the floor, holding his jaw.

"That's gonna bruise." Pietro laughs, earning a slap to the back of the head from Wanda.

Bucky is up off the floor and going right in attack mode, charging at Steve, his left arm whirring to life before colliding with the right side of Steve's ribs. Steve grunts out at the impact.

"Steve, Bucky stop! Stop it!" Wanda screams out as Bucky's hand collides with Steve's nose, followed by a quick knee to his gut.

No one else seems to move or even look concerned about wanting to stop the fight.

"Is no one going to do anything?!" she yells at the team.

Natasha places a hand on Wanda's shoulder,

"Wan, I think this is a long time coming, something that they both need. It's not just because of Payton, but a lot of hurt, anger, and other emotions that have just boiled over. Let them get it out."

Wanda huffs and reluctantly agrees, for the moment. She is giving them exactly five minutes to have this scuffle and then she was putting an end to it.

"Why couldn't you just talk to Payton?!" Steve shouts, trying to hold back Bucky's fist.

"You should have just stayed the fuck away! We were fine! It's your fault!" Bucky fires back, swiping Steve's feet out from under him.

Steve flips back up in time to avoid Bucky's fist, "I was trying to make amends you jerk."

"You ruined everything!"

Steve throws his whole body at Bucky, surprising Bucky and being able to knock him off balance.

"You shouldn't have been such an asshole!"

Steve and Bucky really aren't holding anything back right now; it's basically DC all over again, just less guns and knives… Oh, no wait, there's the knife. Really Bucky?

"Okay, that's enough. We're getting nowhere right now" Wanda says, hands glowing red.

The red glow circles around the two fighting men and she slams them into opposite walls, pinning them down.

"WANDA! LET ME GO!" Bucky screams, struggling against her hold.

"NO! This fighting is getting up NOWHERE! If you want to fight, then you can kill each other after we get Payton and the baby back safely!"

Her words quickly register with the group and heads turn to her so fast, she is surprised they didn't end up with whiplash.

"What?!"

Wanda and Natasha flinch at their voiced echoing throughout the room,

"Yeah Wanda, way to break it to them gently." Natasha says dryly, cocking a brow at the younger woman.

"Well it got their attention! And they wouldn't stop fighting; no one else was doing anything."

Wanda lets her hold on Bucky and Steve drops, turning to face Natasha, "I didn't mean to just let it slip out like that, but it was starting to get out of hand. Steve shoved Bucky's head through the wall and Bucky tried to stab Steve for heaven's sake!"

Bucky takes a hesitant step towards Wanda, "Wanda, what do you mean baby? I-Is Payton…"

He can't even say the word, his emotions bubbling up making him choke.

Natasha and Wanda give him a sad look, and nod, "Yeah. She's pregnant."

"The baby's yours Bucky." Natasha adds, "We think that's why HYDRA took her."

He stumbles back, collapsing into a chair, "B-But, she didn't say… why didn't she tell me?"

"I don't know, maybe because you were and asshole off trying to put yourself in an alcohol induced coma?"

"Shut up Tony!" Wanda and Natasha shout at him, making him raise his hands in surrender.

Natasha huffs, moving over to Bucky and sitting in front of him, "She didn't know. At least, I don't think she did. Payton had gone to the doctor for a physical, remember?"

Bucky nods but says nothing.

"The doctor found something off in her blood work and wanted to run a follow up, but Payton never went because of all the shit that went down."

Bucky lowers his head, knowing Natasha mean him flipping out and ignoring Payton, causing her to go home.

Go back home where Hydra was waiting for her. Wanting her because they somehow knew she was the key to getting him. But not just Payton, his child… They knew about the baby before Payton did! Now those assholes have them both, and he's been sitting on his ass doing nothing. Well that ends right now.

Clenching his jaw, his eyes narrow and his expression becomes something not even Natasha can read.

Bucky stands up so fast, the chair goes rolling into the wall and he swiftly makes an exit. If Hydra wants the Winter Soldier, then by damn they're going to have him.

"WAIT!" Wanda calls out, "Where are you going?!"

"To get Payton."


End file.
